Like this:

It has been over a month since I’d updated anyone on much of anything. So I’ll give you some idea as to what we have been doing since then. Which really isn’t much…

Let’s see…

My parent’s made a spontaneous move to St. Augustine, Florida in early September. They were going to make a pit stop here on their way, but Tropical Storm Lee had other plans. They were driving a 24ft. U-Haul, pulling their car and my grandmother was driving their van behind them. I don’t blame them one bit for deciding to skip their stop here and head straight to their new home. During their stop at a hotel, my mother called. We talked about the storm and the situation. She then laughs and says, “I’m tired of lying to you being this high. You want to talk to him?” I said sure and then was like, Huh? Well, my dad, or who I thought was my dad, get’s on the phone and we talk for about 30 seconds. I then asked puzzled, “Wait… Who is this?” Not recognizing the voice as my dad’s. He laughs and says, “Mckinnion. Who did you think it was?” I freaked! I was so excited. I had to ask him what it was Mom said before she handed him the phone. She actually said, “I’m tired of lying to you, Boy (what we’ve called Mckinnion since he was fresh from the womb) says hi. You want to talk to him?” That is so not what I heard. Lol I was super excited to hear from my brother. They were going to surprise me when they showed up. I had no idea that he was moving with them. Unfortunately, life happens, and they’ve still yet to make the trip here. Soon… We’ll see…

On September 12th I had gotten a pretty bad toothache. I’d taken Tylenol all day for, but at about 5 o’clock-ish, it reared it’s big ugly head at me. I hadn’t felt pain quite like it ever! I stayed home from school that night, hoping it would get better. It didn’t. I couldn’t sleep and my face had swollen. I looked and felt hideous! Wish I’d had taken a picture to show you. :Þ Jonathan stayed home from work the next morning so that he could take the kiddos to their six month dental cleaning and checkup since I was feeling so miserably. He kept trying to talk me into going to the dentist or Urgent Care, but our funds were super tight that week and there was no way we’d be able to afford it. So I refused to go. He called his mother, and asked for a favor. She was seriously my lifesaver that morning! I don’t know what I would have done had she not been there to help us out.

Went to Urgent Care to have it checked out. It was a severe abscess. He told me that had I not gone in when I did, I may have had to be hospitalized for severe infection. Holy crap, that was scary! He prescribed me penicillin, naproxen and lortab. He said he felt safe prescribing me a narcotic since I “looked legit.” Haha! Got my prescriptions and downed them right away! Unfortunately, the penicillin made me vomit for the first two days. It was terrible! Couldn’t keep anything down and was in a constant state of pain from the abscess and nausea from the penicillin. It took about a week, before I truly felt back to normal. We were able to pay my in-laws back for the doctor’s visit and Rx’s the following week. And I couldn’t thank them enough for all the help they’ve been able to offer us. You are truly appreciated!

The day I went to Urgent Care, happened to be the same day the kids’ dental cleaning and checkup was. They go every six months. I’ll be damned if they ever have teeth like mine 😦 Anywhoo… Jonathan took them and Joseph had moderate gingivitis. What? I make them brush their teeth after every meal. There is no way he has gingivitis! Apparently, when I had told him to brush, he was just going into the bathroom to play. So I ended up brushing his teeth for a week after that and then watched him every time the following week to make sure it was actually getting done. I don’t supervise him now, but I do random check-in’s when he’s brushing. So far, every time, he’s actually brushing and doing it correctly. Dr. Hyde, then discussed fixing his chipped front tooth… Again! They fixed it once, and it fell off that week! If it doesn’t stay for very long this time, they’ll just put a crown on it instead. I imagine, that’s what’s going to have to happen. He plays too rough to not lose the piece they put on. All of them are clear of any cavities and everything looks great. Still trying to get the girls to quit sucking their thumbs though. They’re okay as long as they’re busy. The second they stop doing anything, it’s right to their mouths. Tressa has started using her shirts in place of her blanket when she sucks her thumb. Ugh! She’s so rebellious! :Þ Just don’t want the girls to cause any malformation of their teeth. It’s bad enough Joseph is going to probably have braces. Bleh! Poor kiddos and my bad genes. (Thanks a lot Dad! :Þ)

For school, we had a scavenger hunt scheduled at the local outlet mall for the 28th. It got cancelled due to the bad weather that day. Nobody brought anything to be able to do practical work, so we ended up going to Edgewater Mall instead. For the scavenger hunt we had grouped up in no more than five people. We were given a list of things to find, like, someone with a swing bob, someone 50% gray, someone with rollers still in their hair, and we had to approach said person, explain who we were and get their permission to take a picture. It was super fun until one of the rent-a-cop’s approached us and halted our fun because he said we had to have prior approval from the mall manager. UGH! We’d all made the trip so Mrs. Lynne and Mr. Morgan told us to go do some shopping, or window shopping and get something to eat to fill our time for the next two hours or so. Overall it was fun, but wish we could have done what was intended. Next time we’ll know to get prior approval.

I was able to pick up my honey and take him out during his lunch break one day. It was nice to just see him and let him get out of his work atmosphere for about an hour. He needed the break. 🙂

Our school was cancelled on the 1st of this month, so I had a whole weekend with the family. On Sunday we decided we would get out and do something. We’re always cooped up in the house. There really isn’t a whole lot to do around here for very cheap, unless you want to go to the beach… And we’re just not beach lovers. Right Rebecca? :Þ

We went for lunch at McDonald’s since Chick-fil-a is closed on Sunday! Bleh! Then we went and played minigolf. We had so much fun! It was a beautiful day out too. The weather was perfect, it was quiet out and the kiddos were well behaved. Amaya got bored after the first hole. She looked to Jonathan and said, “I’m done playing hockey.” Lol Hockey?

After finishing our game the kiddos asked if we were going to be doing anything else. We’d gotten lucky to be able to do what we did that day. Then they started stomping their feet and bickering about how they wanted to do this and do that. My feelings were hurt! They didn’t say, “Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us out. We had a great time!” It was more like “Fuck you guys. We want more.” Ugh! I wasn’t even angry with them, I was just hurt. Our finances are budgeted every month and rarely do we have enough extra to do something outside of the house or go out to eat. And we did both that day. I felt like they were being so ungrateful and rude. Jonathan works his ass off to provide for us and then they acted that way. I had a talk with them and felt a little better. I know that they’re just kids and they don’t understand things the way that we do, but it still hurt.

School is going well. SO READY to be done. I should be finished by February. These last few months seem to be going so quickly, yet so slowly. We’ve lost a lot of our teachers and are now down to two instructors. Hoping we don’t lose another. The teacher, student ratio would not meet requirements then. Not sure what will happen if that takes place.

The kiddos are doing well in school. I still can’t stand Amaya’s teacher for shit. Hoping to resolve that. Joseph’s class had an AR party and he told us that he’d met his goal, but was still unable to participate. I contacted his teacher and she told me that he did indeed meet his goal, but his average score was 86 and you had to have an average of 90. She then states how proud she is of him for reading chapter books. He’s the only one in his class reading the chapter books, and he’s only 4 points under in average and he still cannot participate! So he’s penalized for reading at levels above his classmates. Lovely!

We did our costume shopping this weekend. Joseph has wanted to be a skeleton since April. He chose this costume. He’s most excited about the blood. Tressa walked into the store and immediately picked out the Spanish Princess costume. Amaya was dead set on being a princess when we walked into the store until she spotted the Miss Sock Hop costume. Unfortunately, they didn’t have her size. So she resorted back to her original idea and is a princess. She’s so excited about it lighting up too. She’s told everyone already!

A friend from school told me about a new subdivision that was being built. They have two and three bedroom houses. We drove by on Monday, hoping they’d be open so that we could see them. They were closed, but we drove around and the outsides are beautiful. The three bedrooms are only $675 a month (1350 sq ft. They also offer a 1500 sq ft but I’m not sure what the price difference is). That’s only $60 more a month than what we pay now. AND they have two car garages, big yards and they’ll put up a six foot privacy fence around the back yard for an additional $25 a month. I’m super stoked! We’re hoping that Jonathan can get a day off this week to be able to stop by and view them. It’s kinda out in the country too. But it’s so pretty and quiet out there. So far, I’m already disappointed in the fact that the kids would attend Lyman Elementary. When I was substituting, I taught there three times for the first and third grade and I did not care for the teachers. They were just awful mean to the kids. I’ve heard that their principal has changed since then and things may be different. I dunno…

I’ve rambled quite a bit. So I’ll end things here.Hope everyone has been doing well! XOXO,